


To the Beat of the Drums

by Artio



Category: My Darkest Days (Band), Three Days Grace (Band)
Genre: Life Starts Now era, M/M, No real relationship just some crushin', Prompt Fill, but man it's been a hot minute since i posted anything here huh?, some cussing because they're rockstars but that's all rating wise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 09:50:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11711916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artio/pseuds/Artio
Summary: Written for the prompt "Heartbeat" as part of the Vipera Weekly Prompts on Advanced Scribes.





	To the Beat of the Drums

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I know it's been a long ass time since I posted anything on here but I'm part of a regular prompt writing group on the RP site Advanced Scribes now (with the same username if you wanna go hunt me down xD) so maybe I'll get back into writing TDG fic somewhat regularly? Maybe at least once a year? Can't promise anything, but it was really cool to go back to my writing roots and do a TDG fic for this prompt. I still enjoy writing for this fandom, y'know? The prompt for this week was "Heartbeat" and had to be under 1500 words.  
> I can definitely feel that my writing is rusty, especially for bandfic, but hopefully someone still enjoys this!

Matt took a sip of his beer and leaned on the railing, settling in for his new nightly routine. It was always an honor to get to tour with the bands he grew up admiring, but it was something completely different to tour with the band that got him into music in the first place. As their intro music started to pick up, Three Days Grace began walking on stage one by one to uproarious cheers. First was Neil, the drummer, who Matt watched step up onto his drum riser in the dark back half of the stage. A few people, including Matt of course, noticed and applauded him before the others caught on once the drums started up. Following him was the guitarist Barry, who was easier to notice in the slightly better lit front half of the stage. Matt’s older brother and the bassist, Brad, strolled out after, who Matt cheered for from his balcony spot above Brad’s side of the stage. Then the audience grew tense with anticipation for the lead singer. As the intro song began morphing into one of Three Days Grace’s own, Adam burst onto the stage, sprinting to the microphone just in time to start singing. It was hard to hear the first few lines of the song over the audience going wild. The stage lights went up like a flourish to Adam’s entrance and the crowd started singing along and moving to the beat almost as if they had been cued in. 

Matt shook his head and took another sip of the beer. He couldn’t tell if he appreciated Three Days Grace more from a fellow lead singer’s perspective or as a genuine fan of the band. It was only a few dates into the tour so far yet every night their opening went just as well. And every night Matt found himself just as entranced with it as the audience. Well, maybe excluding the ladies who threw their bras on stage mid-concert. It was hard to top that.

The first song wrapped up and Adam yelled an energetic “How the fuck are ya?” to the audience. The guitar easily matched the high pitched cheers in volume and intensity, egging them on. “I said,  _how the fuck are ya_?” Adam asked again, with more ferocity. He held a hand up to his ear as the crowd screamed back, this time Brad adding to the noise with a small riff on the bass. There was a brief lull before the band started up the intro to the next song. The drums felt like a second heartbeat in Matt’s chest as they barely managed to come through the ecstatic crest of noise. 

A satisfied smile spread across his face, one he was sure he shared with the majority of the crowd. He moved his attention from Adam firing everyone up at the front of the stage to Neil up on the riser. Matt had watched the band practice in his garage when he was little, before they were even Three Days Grace, and while Adam and Brad had come out of shells since then, Neil had always played passionately. He had just as much charisma and sway over the crowd as Adam did, often ending sections with flips of his drumsticks or using a brief pause to rile them up in his own way. It was incredible to see drums played with such flare and so well so consistently. Not like My Darkest Days’ drummer was bad by any means, but Neil was a whole different level. It was mesmerizing to watch. Almost made him wish he had learned the drums at some point. 

He got through half of his beer and a few more songs without looking away from that talented son of a bitch. The thought of his own bandmates partying it up backstage without him itched in the back of Matt’s mind like most nights, but he knew they were fine without him for a while. After all, they spent pretty much the entire rest of the day together since the two bands mostly kept to their own groups, with the exception of him and Brad sometimes hanging out together. And besides, the drum solo was after this next song. Matt always left after the solo, usually craving another cigarette or beer to calm his remaining post-concert nerves by then.

The pain in his feet was starting to make itself known as the song continued on. Being on stage before Three Days Grace then standing to watch them play afterwards wasn’t taking any less of a toll than it did on the first night. If anything, it was accumulating over time. Matt was becoming more and more aware of the pack of cigarettes in his pocket too. Half of him wanted to stay to show his support, but he was sure no one would mind if he left a bit early one time.

Just as he was about to turn and leave the balcony, Neil looked up, caught his eye, and smiled at him. Matt returned the gesture with a lopsided, nervous smile of his own. Neil gave him a small nod before returning all of his attention to the drums. 

It was only a brief moment but it gave Matt a sharp flash of adrenaline. He quickly glanced around the balcony and down on the side of the stage, but he was the only one there. Not even a stray staff member was nearby. Matt downed the rest of his beer at once. The rhythm of the drums in his chest was no longer enough to mask the driving beat of his heart.

He was frozen there the rest of the night, stuck in place as if it’d been Medusa he made eye contact with instead. It almost didn’t feel real when the set ended and the band began throwing things into the audience before filing off stage. Matt knew they didn’t do encores, yet he waited as eagerly as the crowd for any sign of one. Only when the house lights came on did he feel like the spell broke and he could move again. He fumbled for his pack of cigarettes, stiffly making his way down the balcony stairs and towards a door that led outside, hoping his bandmates didn’t catch him in the hallway. Maybe he’d come up with some lie about running into an old friend in the audience and sticking through the whole show to catch up with them. Maybe he’d finally have to admit to himself that it was the drummer, not the drumming, he was entranced by.


End file.
